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I'm doing a home renovation and have the chance to finally hardwire audio to all my rooms from my AV closet. I am trying to evaluate what it would cost to use Sonos in a multi-zone environment. I'm leaning towards one Port per zone (6 zones) and then getting a multi-zone amp to power all the speaker's.

 

My issue is that each Port is $450, which means the total preamp setup will be a multi-thousand dollar endeavor. 

 

Is there any work in progress for a multi-zone Port? It doesn't make sense to me that there should be multiple preamps all in the same rack when one device with 2, 4, 6, or 8 outputs could be smaller and more cost effective.

 

I don't plan on playing different music per zone, but I do need the ability to turn each zone on and off at will as well as control the volume per zone. Is there a setup I have overlooked that would allow this with just one Sonos Port? Perhaps others have run into this conundrum and found an adequate solution.

Hi. IMO there would be little demand for such a product in Sonos' target market. 

If you don't intend to play different music in different zones then multiple Ports are unnecessary. One Port, one (powerful) amp and one impedance matched speaker switch is all you need in principle, although you would have to think about ease of access to the controls.

Sonos , likely for business reasons, doesn’t announce products in advance of sales. 

Given the relatively (imho) small market for such a device, I wouldn’t think a device like that would be at the top of the priority list of product they’re working on, but take that with a grain of salt, as I’ve not predicted the last several products successfully, so honestly, your guess is just as good as mine. But you’re unlikely to get an official confirmation either way. 

A more common arrangement would be to use Connect:Amps. Have you considered that? Would three, each running two zones, give you sufficient flexibility?

 

A more common arrangement would be to use Connect:Amps. Have you considered that? Would three, each running two zones, give you sufficient flexibility?

 

Thanks John, but no that would not work for me. I need to be able to turn off and on each zone independently, with unique volume. If I were to go that route, I'd get three Ports and a six zone amp, as the amp could still cost less than the $600 saved from going with Ports rather than Amps.

 

Sonos , likely for business reasons, doesn’t announce products in advance of sales. 

Given the relatively (imho) small market for such a device, I wouldn’t think a device like that would be at the top of the priority list of product they’re working on, but take that with a grain of salt, as I’ve not predicted the last several products successfully, so honestly, your guess is just as good as mine. But you’re unlikely to get an official confirmation either way. 

Understandable about the announcements, but I was hoping something was going around the rumor-mill. I don't see it as niche though, it's fairly common to have multiple zones all wired to the same home run. I'd consider it pro-sumer perhaps, but the difference is really between a retrofit of needing amps spread throughout the house and new construction / a renovation. Anyway, if Sonos is listening, I'd like to put my vote in for either a multi-zone preamp or a single "zone" with multiple independent volume control device.

The Port's design was evidently driven by the needs of the installer community. Putting several player instances into one box can't have been high on their priority list given the overall cost of such installations. 

Also, the real-time scheduling needs of the Sonos process, in particular to ensure multi-room sync, could have required a multi-core or multi-processor architecture, with much increased complexity and an erosion of apparent cost savings. 

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